If it were up to Kinsey Olson and Sara Walter, there would be a women’s mini baja team at Iowa State.

Mini bajas are small, off-road vehicles built by college teams around the country to race in a yearly competition.

“Last year we discussed the possibility [of a women’s team],” said Walter, baja team member and sophomore in mechanical engineering.

“The idea got tabled because there aren’t enough women in baja.”

Currently, Olson and Walter are the only women on the baja team. Walter said the time commitment could limit the number of women joining the team.

“Baja takes up 25 to 30 hours a week for me,” she said.

Olson, senior in mechanical engineering, said the percentage of female automotive engineers is low, which makes forming a women’s team difficult. She said there is not a good chance of a women’s team in the next year, although they want to do something in the future.

“I’m not sure if it would be a baja team or if we’d try to branch out,” Olson said. “[A women’s team] would be a lot more multidisciplinary. Some other disciplines have a lot higher percentage of women involved [than automotive engineering].”

Olson said the Society of Automotive Engineers, which coordinates the baja race, also coordinates other similar events. She said a women’s team might be more successful in an event related to an engineering field with a higher percentage of women.

Ethan Slattery, project manager of the baja team and senior in computer engineering, said a women’s team is a possibility.

“There seemed to be a lot of interest in it,” he said.

Slattery said many schools have two baja teams, a men’s and a women’s.

“You can bring two cars to each competition,” he said.

The baja team is currently building a car for the Mini Baja Midwest Race, which will take place June 17 in Troy, Ohio. The Iowa State Mini Baja team is part of the ISU student chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers.

“To design and build a car in one year is a lot,” said Greg Luecke, associate professor of mechanical engineering and adviser to the baja team.

Luecke said the car is designed from scratch.

“Designing is a huge issue,” Slattery said. “Getting people who have the knowledge to design parts is difficult.”

Slattery said he hopes to have the car designed by the end of the semester and built by spring break. He said this would give the team two months to test the car.

In the 2004 competition, the team placed 119 out of 137 participants.

“Last year, we didn’t do so hot,” Slattery said. “We ended up snapping our rear axle in half during one of the races.”